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8831SaturdaySunday9.12. Noora Kotilainen: Visual Theaters of Sufferinghttp://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:ISBN 978-951-51-2568-2
Visual images picturing suffering of others are in many ways forceful; they move their spectators emotionally and politically. Images of wars, crisis and suffering communicate humanity, the peril it is in, as well as the need to protect it and to alleviate suffering. Emotive images of bodily suffering affect the understanding of not only the immediate crisis they depict but of the surrounding world, the position of the spectators of the images, as well as the position of the spectated (suffering) others.

This is a study into the position, significance, framings and utilization of images of atrocity, war and human suffering within the evolvement of the ideas of a shared human community and humanitarian discourse. The visual theaters of suffering are approached within a historical perspective from the times of the Enlightenment onwards, focusing particularly on the era of Western lead humanitarian world politics of the recent decades. The thesis asks, how images of suffering presented within a humanitarian frame have historically been communicating apprehensions of a shared humanity whilst reflecting the political preconditions of their era. And how images of distress and crisis in the more contemporary international political and media contexts are framed and used within the Western sphere, and how they are communicating the prevalent humanitarian ethos of their time. The dissertation focuses on visual practices that constitute namely the Western spectatorship and Western spectator of suffering, and thus the practices that through visual representations of suffering, war and conflict constitute, produce and reproduce conceptions of international politics, the West and the Rest and hierarchies of humanity.

Humanitarianism, especially in the more contemporary political settings is approached as an influential (unconscious) ideology. Emotive images of suffering are perceived as emotionally driven theatrical tragedy arrangements through which the ideological apparatus of humanitarianism addresses and invites its audiences to see the spectacles of global suffering in certain contextual, politically and ideologically constructed and governed ways.

Firstly the history of visual humanitarian communication from the mid- eighteenth century until 2000s is mapped out. Through the mapping out of the imagery, the positions and framing of images of human suffering within the evolvement of the humanity and humanitarianism discourses and changing notions of life seen as worthy of protection and rights are analyzed. Secondly, through four divergent, contemporary and empirically orientated cases, it is analyzed how various images of crisis, war and suffering/non- suffering are arranged and utilized in the contemporary settings of Western humanitarian world politics.

In the contemporary setting, images of conflict, war, natural catastrophes and refugeeness are discussed, and the differences of the representation of Western suffering vis-à-vis non-Western suffering are analyzed as a theater of proof of the conditional nature of humanity. Topical Western visual war branding effortsstrategic communication of the NATO Afghanistan operationare analyzed from the point of view of the legitimizing narratives of contemporary Western war. Also the visual narratives of the Western enemiesMuammar Gaddafi, Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Ladenin the context of Western humanitarian international politics are scrutinized. And finally, the positions of social media images of contemporary war within international politicsnamely the images of the Syrian 2013 Ghouta chemical assaultare analyzed.

The thesis shows how visual humanitarian communication, the representational practices and arrangements of images of pain and crisis, have during history reflected, as well as constructed, the predominant thinking on humanity, the perils it faces and the available means to protect life from these perils. It is concluded that in addition to mediating distant atrocities and informing the spectators of the need of help, images of war and suffering are contemporarily often used in the branding of military operations and legitimation of interventionist actions, as well as utilized as strategic enablers in foreign political settings in times of crisis. Moreover, it is argued that the humanitarian imagery of today has become a central arena of communicating the world order, and further of indicating the status of the sufferers within the global hierarchy of humanity, and thus manifesting the globally conditional value of (human) life and the limited universality of humanity.

The study includes 24 collage illustrations into which some of the key visual images discussed in the study are compiled.

]]>http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:ISBN 978-951-51-2568-2Kotilainen, Noora9.12. Kirsi Kuusinen-James: SETELIPELIÄhttp://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-951-51-2570-5
Many of the current changes in Finnish social and health care legislation promote the expansion of service users freedom of choice. There is, however, significantly less information about the freedom of choice in respect to social services than health care services. The purpose of this research was to investigate how freedom of choice and consumerism are constructed in a regular home care context in interaction between service users and employees in the institutional framework of the research municipality.

The study was carried out as a case study. The data consists of a survey addressed to the elderly service users (44 respondents; mean age 82.5) and interviews (15 service users; 4 family members). A survey for private service providers (21 respondents) and group interviews (3 participants) were also conducted. Care assessors (5) were also interviewed in a group. Some observations (4) of needs assessment situations were also conducted. Furthermore documents linked to the municipalitys decision to adopt service voucher in regular home care were analysed. The data was collected in one Finnish municipality (Lahti) from 2011-2012. Theoretically and conceptually the research connects to the discussions of governance, active citizenship and freedom of choice in a quasi-market. The results were examined in regards to how free choice in governed and how it is affecting service users autonomy, quality of the services or modernization of the welfare state.

The findings show that elderly service voucher users appreciate the possibility to continue with the same service provider. In addition, they stress the importance of the possibility to buy additional services from the same provider, which is not currently possible for municipal home care clients. Elderly people found the freedom of choice, however, too narrow, because it is limited to just the choice of a service provider. The content of the service, the location of the production (home or assisted living), employees who provide the services, the time or the duration of the service, cant be chosen. The initiative for the needs assessment comes often from a loved one or from a health or social service employee. The municipal service needs assessor decides to whom the voucher will be offered. An individual must first "sell" themselves as a vulnerable person in order to attain the right to publicly funded services, and then as a consumer who is able to use the voucher. In addition to the limited content of the choice, who can choose is therefore also limited. Support from loved ones is often necessary or even a prerequisite for receiving a voucher. The tight service access terms, little information about the different choice options or the responsibilities of the individual, indicate that in a quasi-market (privately provided and publicly paid for services) home-care service voucher users dont seem to be fully autonomous consumers but quasiconsumers.

A substantial improvement of the quality or the efficiency of the services should not be expected because the service users do not compare, complain about the services or change their service provider. So the free choice brought on by the voucher does not prune out the low-quality services. Choice does therefore not work as a good quality control instrument for the service organizers.

Publicly funded social and healthcare services have traditionally aimed to promote equality between service users and to decrease welfare disparities. Freedom of choice, executed with a regular home care service voucher, includes risks of increased inequalities and the results refer to the realization of these risks. Polarization of the people who need less help and use vouchers and people who need more help and are therefore channeled directly to municipal services, seem to be in progress. The right to choose a service provider appears to be more important than equal possibilities to make a choice, the possibility to make meaningful choices or the consequences of the choices.

]]>http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-951-51-2570-5 Kuusinen-James, Kirsi12.12. Minna Stenius: Why share?http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-951-51-2572-9
An ever larger share of organizations depend on knowledge for success. It can, however, only be utilized if individuals engage in sharing their knowledge; and hence, knowledge sharing is considered a critical employee behavior in expert work. While it is collectively desirable to share knowledge, for an individual knowledge sharing is a discretionary behavior, and one that may entail risks and costs. Hence, the aim of the present study was to shed light on the predictors of knowledge sharing with a focus on motivation to share, and its quality. This aspect has not been well covered in prior research. The model of knowledge sharing motivation by Gagnè (2009), which combines the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and Self-Determination Theory (SDT), was used as a research framework. Knowledge sharing was investigated in two different work contexts.

In terms of methods, the study included both a qualitative belief elicitation study (n=18), and a survey based quantitative study with a prospective design (T1 n=200; T2 n=95). The data was collected from a public sector expert organization.

Study I established that the elicited shared outcome beliefs reflected the different knowledge sharing contexts. Furthermore, outcome beliefs (attitudes), subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control predicted knowledge sharing intentions, which, together with perceived behavioral control, predicted actual knowledge sharing in work meetings, lending support for the utility of elicitation studies. The same essentially applied to knowledge sharing in informal personal interactions.

Study II established that the sense of personal importance and value congruence, labelled identified regulation, was the best motivational quality to predict knowledge sharing both in work meetings and in informal personal interactions, as well as tacit knowledge sharing. External regulation to share was positively, and identified regulation to share negatively associated with knowledge withholding.

The study demonstrated that identified regulation was the best motivational quality to predict knowledge sharing, but it was also a better predictor than outcome beliefs and subjective norms. Treating knowledge sharing as a context-embedded behavior seemed justified. Elicitation study was deemed an effective way to generate information of shared underlying behavioral beliefs.

]]>http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-951-51-2572-9Stenius, Minna16.12. Veli Särmäkari: SUOMALAINEN ASEVELVOLLISUUSPERIAATE http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-951-51-2564-4
This study examines how the modern European model of conscription took shape in Finland at the end of the 1800s. The aim of this study is to deepen and diversify the building of the modern Finnish idea and concept of conscription both during the time that Finland was an autonomous grand duchy and in modern-day Finland by using the methodology of historical social science. Conscription is studied using historical sources - but the reasons for conducting this research stem from the present. The study also falls under conceptual history, as it looks at how the concept of conscription has changed over time and at the "struggles over concepts" that have led to these changes.
In this study I argue that Finland could possibly abolish conscription in the 2010s or reserve the power in its Constitution to resume it should the need arise - but only after careful consideration of the changes in the Finnish principle of conscription that have occurred over time and once research on Finnish conscription has become more diverse.

The study consists of eight chapters. The first chapter presents the aims of the study, its significance, the research questions and it introduces the plausible ways in which the Finnish principle of conscription could be modified (discussed in full in chapters seven and eight). Sources include texts produced by social scientists, military scientists and politically active people. The methods used are the thorough examination of texts and deliberative policy analysis. The second chapter presents the theoretical framework of the study, which is formed by Pierre Rosanvallon's critique of a political culture of generality and Albert O. Hirschman's conceptualisation of political possibilities. The third chapter presents the turning points in French, Prussian and Finnish national conscription, from the French Revolution to the end of the 1800s. The fourth chapter presents three North European developers of modern universal conscription: Hugo Raab, Christian Theodor Oker-Blom and Dmitri Milyutin. The fifth chapter describes the key arguments that are used when speaking about Finnish universal conscription. This includes a review of the following: Johan Vilhelm Snellman's "A Nation's Conscript", Yrjö Sakari Yrjö-Koskinen's "National Conscription", Leo Mechelin's "Pro Lege - Conscription" and Johan Gustav Silfversvan's proposal "Conscription Based on a National Militia." The sixth chapter follows the development of the concepts related to Finnish conscription in newspapers and dictionaries published mainly in the 1800s.

As research findings I firstly propose that at the end of the 1800s what overshadowed all other alternatives was the basic idea and terminology of Fennoman conscription. Secondly, there were two constitutional ruptures, one at the end of the 1800s and one at the beginning of the 1900s that surreptitiously still restrict the Finnish constitutional discussion in the 2010s on the possibilities of modifying the principle of liability for military service and the legislation on conscription. Thirdly, I bring to light the paradox that the terms and expressions used to talk about the concept of modern Finnish conscription were originally put together by Elias Lönnrot who specifically sought "to avoid conceptualisation", i.e. chose not to recognise the historical layers or cultural associations of the concepts he used. For instance, when putting together his French-Finnish dictionary (published in 1877), Agathon Meurman translated the revolutionary term levée en masse with Finnish words that were used to describe the allotment system, a military system that had been put in place when Finland was still part of Sweden (the turn of phrase in Finnish being mies talosta meneminen maan puolustukseksi, which in English translates as man from croft leaves to defend the country).

]]>http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-951-51-2564-4 Särmäkari, Veli20.12. Antti Hyrkäs: Startup Complexityhttp://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-951-51-2582-8
This dissertation examines the rise of startup entrepreneurship as a cultural phenomenon, and builds a model for understanding the systemic logic behind this culture. While proceeding with the empirical research, the dissertation develops conceptual tools for modeling cultures as whirlpools that condition the transitions between different contextual rationalities.

The empirical research answers the following questions: Why has this specific form of new venture creation developed such a popular sub-culture, jargon and identity? Why does it display counter-cultural tendencies in relation to the business world in general? What does it enable, as a differentiated cultural form and as a worldview, for the entrepreneurs and for the world around them?
Observing popular startup success stories, startup methodologies and articles from various business magazines, the research traces the general patterns of startup stories as well as the conceptual reservoir of startup entrepreneurship. Based on these investigations, the dissertation constructs a model that visualizes startup culture as a whirlpool of different systemic logics, and as a solution for a specific dissonance between these contexts. The findings suggest that startup culture is as much a culture of speculation as it is a culture of entrepreneurship. It has appropriated venture capitals perspective on potential markets and on venture financing, and turned these into everyday entrepreneurial jargon.

In this culture, two levels of speculation are kept methodically separate: the technological speculation with problems and their solutions, and the economic speculation with possible business models and with the valuation of the startup. Startup culture can be said to condition this dissonance between the two forms of speculation. For the startup, this division creates obvious room for innovativeness, as the system of economy appears as culturally distant. At the same time, startup culture has opened a new popular form of inclusion into economy: the entrepreneur as a technological speculator, who is himself a token of speculation for venture capitalists.

Along with the empirical research, the dissertation offers new ideas on how to model culture while doing qualitative analysis. If we accept that new cultural forms develop in a mostly self-organizing fashion, then we must accept that they have their own logic separate from the logic of the actors. Thus, the theoretical interest of this dissertation is how to model and visualize the inner logic of cultures.

The proposed solution draws heavily from the systems theoretical sociology of Niklas Luhmann and its later applications. Specifically, the suggested approach to modeling combines Dirk Baeckers ideas on how to model complex forms of communication in society with Niels Åkerstrom-Andersens ideas on Luhmanns semantic analytical strategy for doing conceptual history. When combined, and slightly modified, these two applications of Luhmannian systems theory can act as a basis for an empirical approach to modeling subcultures as complex semantic forms of communication. Here, the analogy of a whirlpool is a fitting one: as opposing currents sometimes create a whirlpool, it is a steady state forming inside a non-equilibrium. In a similar fashion, cultures emerge out of the opposing contextual logics in society. When we model culture in this manner, the logic behind cultural evolution becomes clear: culture fills the gaps between different subsystemic/contextual logics, thus enabling meaningful transitions between different forms of sense-making.